CISF constable who 'slapped' Kangana Ranaut shifted to Bengaluru unit; inquiry on
New Delhi, Jul 3: CISF constable Kulwinder Kaur, who allegedly slapped actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut at the Chandigarh airport last month, has been transferred to a unit in Bengaluru pending a disciplinary inquiry, official sources said on Wednesday.
Kaur was suspended by the central armed police force on June 6 soon after the alleged incident took place when the newly elected MP was travelling to Delhi. A police FIR was also lodged against the constable on a complaint by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The sources said Kaur is under suspension and has been posted to the 10th reserve battalion based in the Karnataka capital pending a disciplinary inquiry.
She was shifted to the unit soon after the incident in the fair interest of the investigation that is underway, they said.
A senior commandant-rank officer is conducting the inquiry, and statements of the constable, her colleagues present at the airport that day, the shift in-charge and some airline officials are being recorded, the sources said.
They said the inquiry would take some time, following which an appropriate decision would be taken.
Kaur, who is from Punjab's Kapurthala district, joined the CISF in 2009 and has been with its aviation security group at the Chandigarh airport since 2021.
She has had no vigilance inquiry or punishment awarded against her in the force till now. Her husband too was posted at the Chandigarh airport.
Kaur was apparently upset with Ranaut over her stance on the farmers' protests that took place in the country.
Ranaut, 38, was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Mandi seat of Himachal Pradesh.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
